The goal is to make it painfully evident how much an offer would need to be in order to entice you to leave your current employer. As a disclaimer, I don’t do this but I’ve seen resumes where current salary held a prominent position next to current title. I didn’t do this when I was looking a couple weeks ago because I forgot, if I remembered I probably would’ve put it on there. With your current salary, which every prospective employer will ask for, should be your salary requirement – the amount it would take for you to entertain the idea of leaving your current employer.

Be honest with your salary requirements. Yes, that number will be higher than what some companies would be willing to pay for your services. If you have an unreasonably high opinion of your market worth, that number could be higher than what any company would be willing to pay. But, would you really want to spend two hours interviewing with a company only to find out they aren’t willing to pay you the minimum in your requirement range? Of course not.

How do you figure out what this requirement is? You can use your friends as data points. If you aren’t sure what’s fair, ask them what they’d take percentage-wise and glean an average. Or, just sit there and think about what it would take for you to jump ship. If you’re unhappy, perhaps it would only take a 5% increase. Some wouldn’t leave for less than 20%.